I HAVE AN AGENT!

April 18, 2013

Here are my kids reading in the library. One day my kids might be reading MY BOOKS in the library!

I am so, so excited to announce that I am now represented by the amazing Danielle Smith at Foreword Literary! Do you know Danielle? She’s runs a book review site called There’s a Book, where I saw that she has essentially the exact same taste in children’s literature that I do. And so when she became an agent, I had to send her a query.

Let me back up a moment and talk about my querying process. I spent 2012 with a severe case of submit-o-phobia. Last summer I started cautiously sending out my one polished story (and by “cautiously” I mean I sent it out twice). Then someone in my critique group got an agent, and she stressed how her agent stressed that it was really important to have more than one story. Preferably three.

So my submit-o-phobia said, “Ha! Told you so!” and I stepped back and wrote a lot more. I needed more than one story. And thank goodness for Julie Hedlund and her 12×12, because that pushed me to keep writing, and keep writing more, and pretty soon I had three polished stories and three more almost-theres.

But my submit-o-phobia still made me cautious, so I only queried agents that I could tell liked the same kinds of stories that I do. Because, this may shock you but: I tend to write kind of wacky offbeat stories. So what would be the point in submitting to someone who showed a preference for stories about fluffy bears who cuddle with their mommies? I needed an agent who might appreciate a story about a fluffy bear who finds out that his mommy put an exploding sandwich in his lunchbox by mistake.

So this is to say that I am OVER THE MOON EXCITED that Danielle likes my stories and asked to represent me, because she is completely awesome, and knows everything about children’s books, and and and. I might be a little too giddy. I’m having trouble formulating grammatically correct thoughts.

I am being totally insufferable to Dave. He’ll say, “Do you think we bought enough mortar?” and I’ll say, “Maybe I should ask MY AGENT.” Or he’ll say, “What’s for dinner?” and I’ll say, “I don’t know. Do you think MY AGENT has any ideas about dinner?”

For right now this means lots of fun work getting my stories in tiptop shape! HURRAY! Have I told you I’m excited?

YEAH!!!!!
I am so OVER THE MOON AND SUN AND GALAXY happy for you!!!
I love your wacky stories, my dream is to be able to think/write like that. Funny I love quirky stories but can’t write them.
Enjoy, celebrate and then get cracking on any revisions. Sorry I am just impatient to see your books at the store.

HA! And WOW! HA to the last bits about “I don’t know, should I ask MY AGENT?” I would totally pull that business! And WOW for the obvious! Congratulations! I cannot wait to see these stories of yours! And in case I didn’t use enough: !!!!!!

Julie, this is SUCH inspiring news!! I am so happy for you — it really couldn’t happen to a wackier person! And I feel better knowing that I am currently exactly where you were not that long ago, struggling to get those three necessary stories written and polished before I can even think of submitting — and that it CAN be done. You are proof! I wish you many many many years full of exploding sandwiches. GO GO GO!!!

Thanks, everyone! And yes, Renee, I think it’s the way to go. Stop submitting and assemble a pile of stories! Then you’ll be able to: a) choose the story that most seems to fit the agent your submitting and b) have more stories to give them when they ask.

And Danielle, see, you gave me my answer! Now I can say, “MY AGENT says we should order takeout.”

Julie – I am so happy for you and thrilled that I get to say “I knew her when, and always knew that she would be successful.” Love being a part of my students successes. Wahoo! Super proud of you and can’t wait to celebrate

Ju! Oh my goodness! Drop off the radar for a bit and look what I miss! I’m SO DANG COMPLETELY OVER THE MOON EXCITED FOR YOU. I am dancing in slippery socks. It’s dangerous, but unavoidable. I’m too happy to stop.

A bit slow on the uptake here, but…this is wonderful and well-deserved. It’s not easy getting any kind of a break as a writer, so this is a great testament to your talent AND perseverance. I promise to write a column on you when your first book is published! Soon, please?!